Leafs Notes: Grading the Offseason

The Toronto Maple Leafs had another early Stanley Cup Playoffs exit last season. The Maple Leafs finished the regular season on top of the North Division but couldn’t beat the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the postseason. The team can’t seem to make a deep postseason run, losing in the first round four of the past five seasons. The 2020 postseason was an expanded field due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Leafs couldn’t make it past the qualifying round. The team has the talent on the roster to potentially make a deep postseason run.

Toronto’s offseason started with the team signing a couple of veteran players to new contracts. Wayne Simmonds signed a new two-year, $1.8 million contract that has a $900,000 cap hit per season. Jason Spezza signed a one-year, $750,000 deal. The veteran players may be on the decline, but they bring leadership and experience to the team. Simmonds and Spezza want to play in Toronto given the deals that they signed. Simmonds will see bottom-six minutes, and some power play time. Spezza will see bottom-six minutes and could be a healthy scratch depending on his play, but it should be good for the younger players to have his leadership around.

Travis Dermott signed a two-year, $3 million deal, and the cap hit is $1.5 million per season for the Maple Leafs. The restricted free agent defenseman was signed to a bridge deal. The 24-year-old played 51 games last season, and he had two goals, four assists, six points, and averaged 13:13 of ice time. Dermott will occasionally contribute to the offense. Last season was a down year for the defenseman and the bridge deal made sense for both sides as Dermott tries to have a bounce-back season.

The Maple Leafs traded Filip Hallander and a 2023 seventh-round draft pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Jared McCann. Kyle Dubas and the Leafs then decided to leave McCann and his $2.94 million contract exposed in the expansion draft. The Seattle Kraken took the bait and drafted the 25-year-old. The trade and leaving McCann exposed may not have made sense at the time, but it was a good move. I don’t know how McCann would have fit in on the roster, and there were cheaper depth options available in free agency. It seems like the McCann deal was made to help the Penguins clear some cap space.

Dubas and the Leafs were busy this offseason trying to replace depth players that departed from the team. The Leafs lost some big names in free agency like Frederik Andersen, Nick Foligno, Joe Thornton, and Zach Bogosian. The biggest loss was forward Zach Hyman, who signed a seven-year, $38.5 million contract with the Edmonton Oilers. The cap hit came in at $5.5 million per season, which the Leafs would not have been able to afford with the flat cap. The Leafs will miss Hyman’s production, even with the small decline the past two seasons, and will need someone to step up to play top-six minutes. Despite the loss of a top-six forward, Dubas made the right decision to let Hyman sign elsewhere.

Dubas seemed focused on bringing in depth scoring in free agency. The biggest move though was signing goaltender Petr Mrazek to a three-year, $11.4 million contract. The contract has a $3.8 million cap hit per season. Mrazek was signed after Andersen left in free agency, and will be Jack Campbell‘s partner between the pipes this season. Mrazek played well for the Carolina Hurricanes for three seasons and had solid numbers behind the Hurricanes’ solid defense. I don’t know if Mrazek will be the answer in net for the Maple Leafs, but I know that he won’t have the same defense playing in front of him that he had while with the Hurricanes. It could be a long season, and not in a good way, for the goaltender and fans.

The Maple Leafs brought in five depth players on low risk, high reward type contracts. Kurtis Gabriel signed a one-year, $750,000 contract, and he will bring some grit to the team. He also doesn’t have a problem standing up for his teammates. Michael Bunting signed a two-year, $1.9 million deal, and he should bring some goal scoring to the table. David Kampf agreed to a two-year, $3 million deal with a cap hit of $1.5 million per season. The 26-year-old should add some scoring depth to the bottom six.

Ondrej Kase signed a one-year, $1.25 million contract, and it fits the low risk, high reward mantra since he is often injured. When healthy, he can bring some production and versatility to the bottom six. Nick Ritchie got the biggest contract of the depth players signing a two-year, $5 million deal that has a $2.5 million cap hit per season. The 25-year-old could help to replace some of the offense lost from Hyman’s departure, and isn’t afraid to play physical.

The Maple Leafs signed seven players to one-year, two-way contracts for organizational depth. Most, if not all, of the players will start the season in the American Hockey League. The seven players are Joseph Woll, Joseph Duszak, Brendan Menell, Carl Dahlstrom, Alex Biega, Michael Amadio, and Brett Seney.

Dubas and the Leafs earned a B this offseason. The team did lose Hyman, and that could come back to bite them, but it was done for cap purposes. I like the depth players who were signed in free agency. The fact that Dubas went low risk, high reward to sign some decent bottom-six players also factored into the grade. The only move that could come back to haunt the Leafs is the signing of Mrazek. Yes, he had a solid previous three seasons, but that was behind a solid Hurricanes’ defense. I’m worried that he won’t put up those same numbers behind the Leafs’ defense and possibly buckle under pressure.